Month: November 2016

Dennis Ritchie

Every once in while human civilization get a forward leap by the work of some individual. In the past we had Galileo, Newton, Einstein and others. In our life time we have Hawkins. All these individuals had different work field and had significant impact in their own respective areas. Because of the nature of their work, it’s not possible to compare each person’s achievement or work with another. But their work impacted and shapes our life. They are all well-respected to all of us. We always wanted to be someone like them. One such unique Individual was Dennis Ritchie.

Short Bio
Dennis Ritchie was born in Bronxville, New York in September 9, 1941. His father Alistair E. Ritchie was a scientist at Bell Labs and co-author of The Design of Switching Circuits on switching circuit theory. Ritchie went to Summit High School and graduated from Harvard University with degrees in physics and applied mathematics. Even though he defended his PhD thesis in 1968 on “Program Structure and Computational Complexity” but never officially received his PhD.

In 1967, Ritchie began working at the Bell Lab’s Computing Sciences Research Center. Ritchie worked together with another legend Ken Thompson. Ken was the designer of the original UNIX operating system. Ritchie made some important contributions to UNIX. But his most significant work was creating the C programming language.

Ken Thompson & Dennis Ritchie

Ritchie wins numerous awards in his life. On April 21, 1999 he along with Thompson received the National Medal of Technology from President Bill Clinton. They were given the award because “their work led to enormous advances in computer hardware, software, and networking systems and stimulated growth of an entire industry, thereby enhancing American leadership in the Information Age”.

On October 12, 2011, Ritchie was found dead at his home. He was 70. Ritchie’s full name was “Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie” but was known by his username “dmr”.

Programming Language C
Ritchie’s most significant work was the development of the programming language C. C is relatively small and portable language (it means it can be written for one computer, but can be easily run on another computer, without making any major change). This is a versatile language. That means you can write code, to make changes in the computer hardware (commonly known as driver) and you can also write code to create user interface (commonly known as software).

Impact of his work
Ritchie was a very private person through his life. His death news did not create any significant impact in social media or any main stream news media. His death was like the “death news of some well-known person”. After Ritchie’s death,

Paul E. Ceruzzi (curator of Aerospace Electronics and Computing at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C) wrote “… his name was not a household name at all, but… if you had a microscope and could look in a computer, you’d see his work everywhere inside.”

It is difficult to fathom the impact of his work. Most of the major software and computer system ware created using Ritchie’s C programming language.

But before I write the list – let me know explain about the “kernel”. All operating system has kernel. Consider it as the muscle of human body. A human body has skeleton as the base structure(as hardwire) and then has the muscle(kernel) and other parts(software) on top of skeleton. And finally we have the outer skin(user interface) as protector.

Official Definition of Kernel
The core of an operating system of a computer, responsible for resource allocation, file management, and security.

Here is the list of some of the major software and computer system used by billions. Most of them written in C or different upgraded version of original C.

Operating System
What we use in our regular computer and handheld device as user interface.

Major Browsers
Like the operating system, most of the major browsers are written in different upgraded version of original C.

Major Databases
Like the operating system, most of the major database is written in different upgraded version of original C. And these databases are used my all major and minor corporation and various governments.

Programming Language
Like the operating system, most of the Programming Language are written in C and other different upgraded version of original C.
Widely use languages are –
C++, C–, C#, Objective-C, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, Python
Other languages are –
AMPL, AWK, csh, BitC, D, Go, Julia, Limbo, LPC, Pike, Processing, , Rust, Seed7, Vala, Verilog.

Other Hardware Devices
Our home internet router and many other devices like that is has tiny operating system or instruction set. Which was written using C or a different upgraded version of original C.

Our Tribute to Dennis Ritchie
Think about a world without computer, cell phone, internet? Our life and our modern economy are practically standing on this these. Our life would be completely different without these technologies and devices. Ritchie’s work shapes these technology and thus shapes our life. Famous tech giants and billionaires are actually standing on Ritchie’s shoulders. We are forever grateful to this person.

Writer – Rubayat M.